Like Fire Through Bone (33 page)

Vasilios hesitated again, and Markos waited. “We’ll see,” Vasilios finally said, “but I would like you to touch me, like you did last night.”

Markos smiled brightly, pulled him close, and kissed him.

“Aren’t you going to have work at some point?” Vasilios asked when they finally parted.

“Probably.” Markos began to tug him toward the bed. “Which is why we should get our fun in now before the Emperor realizes I’m not there and sends someone to fetch me.”

Vasilios laughed and kissed Markos again, hesitating briefly before slipping his hand past the waistband of Markos’s trousers to cup Markos’s cock and balls. Markos hummed appreciatively against the curve of Vasilios’s throat, and Vasilios let him go so they could both climb back onto the bed. Markos pulled off his tunic and let it drop onto the floor before kissing down Vasilios’s neck and across his chest. He pinched lightly at first one and then the other of Vasilios’s nipples, and Vasilios was surprised by the heat that pooled in his gut at that. There was a kind of pleasurable ache between his thighs as Markos’s mouth moved lower, kissing down his chest and along his belly. Markos alternated between massaging the muscles of Vasilios’s chest and pinching his nipples.

“You’re so quiet.” Markos’s voice was slightly muffled against his skin. “You have to tell me what you like.”

“All of it feels good.” Vasilios looked down at Markos, trying to focus on expressing the way the things Markos did made him feel and what he would like more. “But here, press harder with your fingertips against my chest. Yes, like that, don’t be so gentle.”

Markos laughed and did as Vasilios told him.

The deep thrumming sensation was back, replaying the ache. Everything felt more intense, his body hypersensitive to the feel of Markos’s large callused hands, his hot breath against Vasilios’s skin, the wet press of his mouth, even the linen under his back and ass felt strange but good. Vasilios bit his lips and shifted restlessly against the sensations as Markos moved his hands from Vasilios’s chest and parted his thighs.

“I’m going to touch you as I did last night. If you will allow it.”

“Gods, yes.” Vasilios pushed up to watch Markos, who looked surprised at Vasilios’s vehemence, then smiled. Markos’s fingers found the skin right above his hole, behind where his balls would have been, and began to rub small circles there, pressing down. Once again Vasilios was surprised by the sensation. It was not pleasure, not exactly, but it was intense and good. He pressed down, rocking forward into Markos’s hands, and Markos made a happy noise in the back of his throat.

“That’s it. Like that. You are so beautiful.”

Markos stopped, though, making Vasilios frown and push up, and Markos stretched his body flat across the bed trying to reach across to the low table where they’d put the food. He managed it with a low groan, the crack of joints popping before sitting back, holding the remaining oil from the night before.

The fingers that found the spot between Vasilios’s thighs again were slick this time, but their touch as sure. Vasilios huffed out several panting breaths, eyes fixed on the ceiling as the pressure inside him grew. Markos had said he could come. Vasilios was still not sure that was true, but this right now felt so good, and he didn’t want it to end. There was no sense of urgency to his pleasure, a steady thrum and slow burn.

“I love touching you like this,” Markos said, voice deep and low, and Vasilios turned his head to look at Markos, who sat between his spread legs as he rubbed, stroked, and pressed against Vasilios’s fragile skin. “Love seeing you spread out like this.”

Vasilios hummed in response, canting his hips up. The pads of Markos’s fingers brushed against his hole, and Vasilios was surprised by how good it felt, and how his body softened at the touch instead of clenching tight.

“Can I put a finger inside you?” Markos asked, and Vasilios was surprised to find himself nodding.

Markos did not push in right away but rubbed the pad of one oil-slicked finger around and around Vasilios’s hole until it felt relaxed and soft. There was no pain when Markos’s fingertip entered him and no discomfort. Vasilios felt a little pressure, but that was all. For a moment they were both simply still as Vasilios relaxed against the sheets and Markos watched him. Then Markos rotated his hand slowly, obviously searching, and his fingertip stroked over a spot inside Vasilios.

It was the same good-intense-strange feeling as before but stronger now, fuller somehow. Vasilios squirmed and pushed his hips against Markos’s hand. “Yes. I like that, do that more.”

“Shall I go faster, harder?” Markos asked, and Vasilios shifted and rocked against his touch as he considered.

“A little harder. Yes, like that.”

Vasilios gasped as heat flared and the sensation changed from strange and good to undeniable pleasure. He rocked, panting hard and baring down against Markos’s touch, until the sensation became too intense.

“Markos.” Vasilios pushed up.

“Enough?” Markos withdrew his finger when Vasilios nodded. He wiped his hand free of oil before pushing himself over Vasilios’s body to kiss him.

Much like the night before, Vasilios’s body felt relaxed, boneless, and languid when Markos kissed him, tongue dipping into his mouth, one of Markos’s hands cupping the back of his head. Vasilios raised his hands to tangle in Markos’s hair as he kissed him back. When Vasilios’s hands drifted down out of Markos’s hair to the waistband of his trousers, however, Markos broke the kiss.

“You don’t need to do that,” Markos said, and Vasilios blinked.

“But I want to.”

Markos hesitated, then finally nodded as he tangled his fingers with Vasilios’s. He guided both of their hands to his cock. Markos was almost fully hard, and it took a few strokes to bring him to full hardness. Face pressed against Vasilios’s shoulder, Markos hummed deep in his throat as their joined hands moved along his cock until he came with a small intake of breath, hips jerking against Vasilios’s.

“Rest for a little while.” Markos kissed Vasilios before untangling himself and standing. “I’m going to go take a bath. I’ll wake you up later on if you want.”

“Yes.” Vasilios couldn’t help yawning, though. “I really do need to get back.”

“Sleep for a little while first.” Markos gave him a fond smile before turning toward the bath.

Vasilios really needed to get going. He’d already stayed much later than he’d intended. He had work that needed to be done. Truth be told, Markos probably had work as well. All that didn’t stop him from wrapping up in a blanket and drifting into a half doze. Markos would wake him up soon, and then they could both attend to their duties.

For the time being, Vasilios chose to be a little bit selfish and stay where it was warm. From the other room, he could hear the sound of water running and Markos humming, his voice deep, resonant, and a little off-key.

T
HE
sun was low in the opposite end of the sky by the time Vasilios made his way back toward his tiny apartment. He was bathed and dressed in fresh clothes that Phyllis had insisted he wear instead of the clothes he had worn the day before. It was later in the day than he would have liked, but still Vasilios could not find it within himself to really care.

He turned down the street where his building stood, ducked down the alley, then pulled open the rickety wooden door and headed up the stairs. He was about a floor below his own when he noticed someone standing on the landing by his own apartment door. Squinting up through the gloom of the unlit hall, Vasilios saw the person appeared to be a eunuch who he did not recognize. The eunuch was very dark-skinned and dressed in expensive lamb’s wool, with the glint of silver in his ears and around each wrist as well. Vasilios quickened his pace up the stairs.

“Vasilios Eleni?” the eunuch called to him when he saw Vasilios moving toward him.

“Yes?” Vasilios asked, and then to his surprise, the eunuch bowed.

“My mistress, the Lady Adhira Rahimi, wishes to speak with you,” he said, holding out a folded piece of expensive-looking paper sealed with a wax signet seal.

Vasilios crossed the distance that remained between them and reached for the letter. “What about? If I might ask?”

The eunuch raised one eyebrow. “I believe she wishes to offer you a job, once she has spoken to you first of course.” He straightened his tunic and then reached for his scarf. “Two hours after noonday tomorrow. The directions will be in the letter. God’s blessings on your house.”

“And on yours.” Vasilios said, clutching the letter, and he watched the eunuch descend the stairs until he was out of sight. Vasilios pushed open the door to his room and collapsed on the bed.

A job would solve so many of his problems and if the lady could afford this quality paper, then she could afford to pay well. He pressed one hand to his face and thought of Markos.

When he had been a boy Vasilios had imagined his future sometimes. He had imagined being a fisherman like his father, going out onto the ocean in a small boat and coming back with the day’s catch of silver- and golden-scaled fish. In his dreams he would build himself a house, marry one of the village girls and have a son of his own.

Then war had come and his life had broken apart so completely it could never be put back together again. He had been taken and made into a different person. For a long time he had not thought of the future at all, aside from surviving the next day.

Now he was free.

He had an apartment of his own, money, perhaps soon a job. His choices were his own now and while Markos remained in the capital Vasilios chose to spend his time with him. He thought of Markos smiling at him from across the table and the way Markos’s hands moved as he spoke emphasizing a point, the feel of Markos’s lips against his and Markos’s body…. Vasilios shivered.

He wanted Markos. He was not ready to live with him but he wanted Markos in his life in every other way. Maybe next they’d have a proper dinner. They could take their time, sit in the garden, talk about their pasts, what they wanted from the future or simple, ordinary things. He did not know if Markos liked to read, what he read or what he did when he wasn’t working. Maybe Markos could teach him to ride better or they could go to Markos’s villa in the country. They had the time and the freedom now, they could do any of that.

They could learn to move forward together. If Markos was posted at the border again Vasilios would write him and wait.

After the traveling around the countryside, the terrifying dreams and unbelievable things they had been through together, it seemed strange to want this, a quiet, normal life. Yet he did want it, and he wanted it with Markos.

Maybe it would not work out between them. He prayed that it would but perhaps it would not. One could never truly see the hand fate and luck dealt them, but even if he were never to see Markos again, his life would go on.

His decisions were his to make, even if he did not know what the future would hold. The rest of his life was undecided and as yet unplanned for.

Vasilios found he rather liked it that way.

These appendices explain and define terms and concepts specific to the world of the novel. While some of these words may have different meanings, they are presented here in the context of this story and the fictional world in which it is set. These appendices are not meant as a comprehensive list of terms and concepts used throughout the novel but to highlight information of particular interest or importance.

I
MPORTANT
T
ERMS
:

Eunuchs:
Eunuchs are males who have been fully castrated, involving the removal of both the penis and testicles. Within the Empire, eunuchs are nearly always slaves or at least begin their lives as eunuchs in bondage. They are not legally considered men, and therefore, they cannot carry swords, inherit property, marry, or own land. Eunuchs are not technically considered women either, although society considers them more like women than men. For instance, eunuchs must use the women’s side in public baths and latrines. There are two kinds of eunuchs: jewels and castratos.

Jewels:
A jewel is a eunuch who is castrated before puberty. Jewels are selected at an earlier age mostly based on physical beauty. They are then castrated, trained, and sold at quite a high price. Jewels are a type of concubine and thus are expected to serve their masters sexually, but they are also considered symbols of wealth and good taste. Because they are highly valued possessions meant to entertain and beautify, jewels are often trained in art or music as well as how to dress and present themselves to be the most aesthetically pleasing. Jewels are considered the height of beauty, and women—especially female concubines—will often attempt to dress and act like them. Generally a jewel will serve his owner from the time he is about twelve or thirteen to the time he is in his midtwenties. Jewels are considered at their most sexually desirable during their mid to late teens. Once they reach their midtwenties, jewels will often be considered no longer sexually desirable and become a household eunuch, usually assigned to serve the house’s mistress or one of the female concubines.